Hawaiian Spam Sushi

2 cups uncooked sushi rice
2 cups water
6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 finely chopped scallions
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tbsp Splenda
1 (12 ounce) container fully cooked Spam (I used light)
5 sheets sushi nori (dry seaweed)

2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey 

Cook sushi rice according to the directions. Set aside and add rice vinegar, sesame seeds, scallions, soy sauce and splenda, and mix well. Let cool until rice can be handled.
Slice luncheon meat lengthwise into 8 slices, or to desired thickness, and brown on both sides in about 1 tablespoon oil. Add soy sauce and honey to make sauce for the spam, and then turn off heat.
Put slice of cooked Spam in the bottom of the Spam can and pack in rice mixture to a depth of about 1 inch. Turn upside down and wrap nori around musubi. Repeat until all slices have been used. Serve at room temperature or chilled with wasabi and soy sauce.

Curry Toast

1 package (6 ) English muffins
5 tbsp butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Monterey Jack also works well)
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise (I used light with great results)
1 bunch green onions chopped (including the green parts)
1 tsp sweet or hot curry powder (your choice, but use Penzey's of course)
1-2 garden tomatoes

Split and toast the muffins, then butter and place on cookie sheet. Mix the cheeses, green onions curry powder and mayonnaise gently until well-combined. Slice the tomatoes in uniform slices and dry off with paper towels,placing a tomato slice on each muffin. Cover the tomato slices with the cheese mixture and broil for 4-8 minutes until brown and bubbly. Now try not to eat all 12 yourself!!

Pumpkin-Chipotle Soup

1 small onion chopped

2 tbs olive oil  

1 can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 quart chicken stock

1 quart fat free half and half (or real half and half if calories are no issue)

1/2-1 chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce(add a little at a time until you get the level of heat you want)

Optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, shredded monterey jack cheese, french fried onions

Saute the onion in the olive oil, until transparent. Add chicken stock. Stir in canned pumpkin with whisk until smooth. Add half and half in a slow stream,whisking into pumpkin mixture. Chop chipotle pepper very fine and add a little at a time, stirring and tasting after each addition to get to the heat you want. Heat through but do not bring to a boil. Ladle into bowls and top with garnishes as desired. Serve with bread and a salad for a delicious fall or winter meal.

No Pink Slime Ground Beef

3-4 pound well-marbled chuck roast cut into cubes (Do NOT buy a lean roast or one with fat cut off, otherwise your ground beef will be dry and crumbly or you will need to ask the meatcutter for some beef trimmings to add into reach the optimal fat content)

Food processor with chopper blade


Making sure that your work area and tools are sanitized, cut your chick roast into  ~1x1 chunks. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO REMOVE FAT. If you do that your ground beef will only be good for casseroles and chilis because patties will not hold together. Process in small batches, pulsing in short bursts to make sure you don't miss any cubes and ensure that you get a product that is neither too coarse or too fine. Once all of your cubes are processed, mix all together to disperse the fat fairly equally and bag and freeze or use.